The CITES conference in Bangkok wound up this week:

Threatened species of sharks, manta rays, elephants, and rhinoceroses will get some relief thanks to precedent-setting decisions taken at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that concluded yesterday in Bangkok.

Rising demand for shark fins, shark meat, and manta ray gills is on an unsustainable trajectory according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Earlier this week, a CITES committee approved what is called an Appendix II listing for five shark species and two species of rays, all of which are considered endangered or vulnerable by IUCN. Appendix II covers species that might face extinction if current trends continue, and CITES allows international trading of these species only if there are controls ensuring their survival in the wild. (An Appendix I listing – intended for species threatened with extinction – outlaws international commercial trading.)

The committee’s decision survived a challenge during the closing plenary session on 14 March. Both IUCN and the World Wildlife Fund called the decision “historic.”

The worst offending countries in the ivory trade have been given a strict deadline to reduce their involvement or face sanctions. The decision taken at the final meeting of the Cites conference in Bangkok is meant to compel countries like China and Thailand to tougher action. But some campaigners say Cites is failing to protect elephants and want more urgent action. Data indicates that 17,000 elephants were killed by poachers in 2011.

Delegates to the CITES conservation meeting in Thailand have agreed far-reaching restrictions on the trade in critically endangered hardwood trees. Extra protection was given to several species of rosewood and ebony that have been threatened by illegal logging. Campaigners welcomed the move, saying it stood in marked contrast to the slow pace of progress in tackling the ivory-poaching crisis.

Japan says it has successfully extracted methane hydrate, known as “fire ice”, from its seabed, possibly unlocking many years worth of gas for the country. In what they are claiming as a world first, a consortium is drilling for the hydrate, a fossil fuel that looks like ice but consists of very densely-packed methane surrounded by water molecules, one kilometre below sea level.

A Japanese energy explorer said on Tuesday it extracted gas from offshore methane hydrate deposits for the first time in the world, as part of an attempt to achieve commercial production within six years.

Japan says it has successfully extracted natural gas from frozen methane hydrate off its central coast, in a world first. Methane hydrates, or clathrates, are a type of frozen “cage” of molecules of methane and water. The gas field is about 50km away from Japan’s main island, in the Nankai Trough.

Japan, which has almost no natural energy resources of its own, will begin the world’s first offshore drilling operation this week to extract frozen natural gas locked under the seabed. Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corp., known as JOGMEC, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology will begin test production for methane hydrate as soon as today in the Nankai Trough about 50 kilometers (31 miles) off the coast of the country’s main island of Honshu, the trade and industry ministry said in a statement.

It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.] We’ll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.

Meanwhile…

It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.

It would be reassuring to think that the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl is contained, and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is in stable shut-down. Unfortunately a look inside the Fukushima plant suggests otherwise.

It’s two years since an earthquake triggered a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown in Japan killing 16,000 people. But Akira Kawasaki from the nuclear NGO, Peace Boat, says that since then, more than 1,000 people have died or killed themselves as a consequence of the disaster.

Hundreds of survivors of the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan have filed a class action lawsuit seeking restitution of the region contaminated by radioactive materials. Lawyers for about 800 plaintiffs say the case has been filed with the Fukushima District Court. The plaintiffs are demanding $520 a month from the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) until the area is restored.

Ceremonies held across the nation, with more than 300,000 people still displaced two years after earthquake and tsunami. Japan is marking the second anniversary of the devastating tsunami and earthquake that claimed 19,000 lives and caused the worst nuclear accident in decades. A national ceremony organised by the government began in Tokyo on Monday to commemorate victims of the disaster. Mourners across the country observed a moment of silence at 2:46pm, the exact time the tsunami struck, for those killed.

Greenland is poised to get its first female prime minister after a centrist party that supports tapping the Arctic island’s vast mineral wealth, including uranium, won national elections, a complete vote count showed Wednesday. With all votes counted, Aleqa Hammond’s centrist Siumut party won 42.8 per cent and 14 seats, while incumbent Premier Kuupik Kleist’s left-leaning Inuit Ataqatigiit mustered 34.4 per cent.

And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?

FAO’s Voices of the Hungry pilot project to run in four countries — Annual survey will provide more detailed information on global hunger A new, faster and more precise way of measuring hunger and food insecurity across the world is soon to be field-tested by FAO in several pilot countries. The new approach relies on gathering information on the extent and severity of hunger from food-insecure people, through a carefully-designed annual survey to be conducted in collaboration with polling specialists Gallup, Inc.

In the Western Pacific, Cyclone Sandra passed New Caledonia and faded in the South:

Tropical Cyclone Sandra has been upgraded to a category 2 system as it approaches Lord Howe Island off the coast of New South Wales. Sandra is expected to hit the island from around 8:00pm (AEDT) with winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour.

The weather bureau is now tracking Cyclone Tim in the Coral Sea off north Queensland. The system is about 440 kilometres north-east of Cairns. Tropical Cyclone Tim is expected to continue moving east-south-east across the Coral Sea over the next few days and is likely to slowly strengthen.

The weather bureau says a monsoon low in the Coral Sea off north Queensland will probably develop into a cyclone in the next 24 hours. The low caused heavy rain and strong wind in the Torres Strait and northern Cape York yesterday but is now well off the east coast.

Just last week, outdoor cafes were jammed as people in northern Europe sought to catch the first rays of warm, spring sunshine. Now, much of the region lies under a fresh blanket of snow with no relief in sight.

Unusually heavy snowstorms have caused severe travel disruptions across northern Europe, with the Eurostar high-speed train between London and the continent suspended and hundreds of flights cancelled.

While in the paleoclimate:

Scientists have revealed insights into a peculiar, phallus-shaped creature discovered at a fossil site in Canada. The animal has been identified as Spartobranchus tenuis, a species from the Cambrian period that was previously unknown to science. The odd-looking creature was an ancient relative of acorn worms that exist today, according to researchers.

In the attribution debate:

And on the ENSO front:

Neutral conditions (neither El NiÃ±o nor La NiÃ±a) continue in the tropical Pacific. Model forecasts and expert opinion suggest that the likelihood of El NiÃ±o or La NiÃ±a conditions developing during the first half of 2013 is low, and that neutral conditions are likely to be maintained through the boreal spring.

A ban on bee-killing pesticides was postponed on Friday (15 March) when member state experts failed to agree on a binding decision to end their use.

[…]

Most member states voted in favour of the ban but the qualified majority threshold needed to make it binding was not met. Five member states abstained, including the UK, Germany and Bulgaria, while nine countries, including Romania, Hungary and Finland, voted against the ban. The Brussels-executive can either refer a revised proposal back to a formal committee for review or send the original text to an appeals committee within two months.

Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

Queensland Health says there has been a spike in mosquito-borne diseases in the Wide Bay region in the state’s south, after the recent floods. Dr Margaret Young says even though floodwater is drying out, mosquitos are still breeding. She says cases of Ross River and Barmah Forest virus have been diagnosed in the area.

Vegetation growth at Earth’s northern latitudes increasingly resembles lusher latitudes to the south, according to a NASA-funded study based on a 30-year record of land surface and newly improved satellite data sets.

A fire at Wattle Flat, south of Adelaide, has spread to a pine plantation. More than 40 firefighters are battling the blaze, which started in grass and scrub about 12:15pm. At least 25 hectares have been blackened.

As Victoria swelters, Melbourne is on track to notch up a record hot spell. There have been eight consecutive days above 30 degrees, the longest hot spell since February 1961. The mercury peaked at 37 degrees around 4pm (AEDT). If Tuesday’s temperature reaches the forecast 36 degrees, it will become the longest heatwave since records began in 1856.

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean’s health:

Mysterious glow of light found to correlate with coral stress prior to bleaching Coral reefs not only provide the world with rich, productive ecosystems and photogenic undersea settings, they also contribute an economic boost valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. But their decline in recent years due to a variety of threats — from pollution to climate warming — has lent urgency to the search for new ways to evaluate their health. A new study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego scientists has revealed that fluorescence, the dazzling but poorly understood light produced by corals, can be an effective tool for gauging their health.

Acidification is changing the oceans:

It is hoped research being carried out on a specially modified Rio Tinto bauxite ship will help increase understanding about ocean acidification in the Great Barrier Reef. The ship has begun a study collecting samples and recording data for the CSIRO during trips between Weipa and Gladstone. It is equipped with a floating lab to monitor ocean acidification.

Stringent water restrictions will come into effect in Wellington at the weekend as northern New Zealand struggles with its worst drought in decades. New Zealand primary industries minister Nathan Guy on Friday declared the entire North Island officially in drought.

Consider transportation & GHG production:

Plans to kick-start Europe’s low carbon vehicles industry with a huge infrastructure package ran into retro roadblocks at a meeting of EU transport ministers yesterday (11 March), with member states bemoaning the use of public funds to reach ambitious targets.

Mishra obit:

Noted Indian environmentalist and TIME Magazine’s ‘Hero of the Planet’ in 1999, Professor Veer Bhadra Mishra, passed away at Sir Sundarlal Hospital in Varanasi on Wednesday afternoon. According to family members, 75-year-old Mr Mishra was admitted to the hospital 10 days before, suffering from low blood pressure. He died at around 3.30pm on Wednesday.

On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:

Amid US threats to impose sanctions on his country, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari joined Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a ceremony breaking ground on construction of the Pakistani portion of a planned Iran-Pakistan pipeline on Monday.

The presidents of Pakistan and Iran inaugurated work on the cross-border leg of a gas pipeline that the U.S. has warned may breach a sanctions regime aimed at curbing the Persian Gulf nation’s nuclear program. Pakistan’s benchmark KSE 100 share index plunged 2.3 percent in Karachi, the biggest drop in almost two months, as the news sparked concerns the U.S. would impose penalties.

‘Only a few of us went up that chimney but 64,000 people came down.’ In what climate justice activists are calling a “huge” victory, the UK energy giant EDF has dropped its controversial multi-million dollar lawsuit against activists who shut down one of the company’s gas-fired power plants in 2012 with a dramatic week-long occupation of the plant’s smoke chimney.

A new report has found nearly two thirds of people in the Asia-Pacific region have no clean, piped water at home, despite the region’s strong economic growth. The Asian Development Bank report says water security is a major concern for most countries in the region.

The European Parliament has rejected campaigners’ demands to tie the majority of farm subsidies to protection of the environment. It now looks inevitable that farmers will continue to receive most of their 58bn-euro (Â£50bn) annual subsidies for doing little more than owning land. MEPs agreed that farmers should work for 30% of their payments by operating in a way that benefits wildlife. But they delayed and watered down the changes proposed by the Commission.

The German government is carrying out a rapid expansion of renewable energies like wind, solar and biogas, yet the process is taking a toll on nature conservation. The issue is causing a rift in the environmental movement, pitting “green energy” supporters against ecologists.

Needy families and individuals in the European Union are becoming increasingly reliant on charity organizations like the Red Cross for basic needs like food, water and shelter. While Germany is relatively unaffected, unemployment and austerity in countries like Spain are making the problem even more severe.

Proposed new energy savings legislation for computers across the EU has been strengthened by a show of hands among national experts from each member state in a behind closed doors vote last week (7 March).

Plans to force farmers to earn their subsidies by protecting the environment may be blocked by MEPs this week. The European Commission wants farmers to repay society for their subsidies – worth about 50bn euros (Â£43bn; $65bn) annually – by supporting wildlife. But farmers are unhappy and have persuaded the European Parliament’s agriculture committee to reject key elements of the reform. Now environmentalists warn that the “greening” of farming is at risk.

A woman whose son perished in the Kilmore East bushfire on Black Saturday has told a Melbourne court she moved to Australia to give her children a different life. Carol Ann Matthews is spearheading a 10,000 strong class action against power company SP AusNet over the deadly fire that killed 119 people and destroyed 125,000 hectares of land in 2009.

Former Labor leader Mark Latham has bought in to the latest round of federal leadership speculation, calling for Kevin Rudd to be given a ministry instead of working on the backbench as the party’s “destabiliser-in-chief”.

A northern NSW coal seam gas company will suspend its exploration and development program in the Clarence Moreton Basin. Casino-based Metgasco says new regulations by the NSW Government have created an environment of substantial uncertainty for the state’s energy companies. The new restrictions announced last month include a two-kilometre buffer zone from residential areas and identified critical industry clusters.

The Federal Water Minister has been widely criticised for his decision to grant the Commonwealth additional powers for approving coal seam gas operations and coal mines. Tony Burke says the Federal Government will now consider the impact on water resources. The mining industry has attacked the announcement, saying it duplicates existing processes managed by the states.

The Conservation Council says the state’s water resources will be threatened unless shale fracking is included in proposed Federal Government changes to environmental law. The federal Environment Minister Tony Burke has announced the government will now consider how a coal mine or coal seam gas project will impact on water resources when deciding if it should be approved.

The next stage of a $2.9 million project to upgrade the Mannum pump station will begin today. SA Water will begin construction work to rebuild a 400 metre section of the pipeline near Chandler Avenue. Service delivery manager Steve Rose says the new work will minimise the risk of flooding at the station, which has caused tens-of-thousands of dollars in damage over the past five years.

The Commonwealth is extending its powers to approve, or reject, coal mines and coal seam gas projects. The federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, has announced water will be included as a factor when deciding if a project should go ahead. He says the public expects him to consider the impact of a proposal on water but, until now, he says he has not had the power to consider the resource.

The Queensland Government has lashed out at Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke over changes to the approval process for coal and coal seam gas (CSG) mines. Mr Burke says legislation will be bolstered to ensure that issues involving water quality are taken into consideration. Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney says the move will delay important projects.

The Federal Government is extending its powers to approve coal mines and coal seam gas projects. Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke says all future coal seam gas projects which will have a “significant impact on a water resource” will need to be federally approved.

Saturday’s election in Western Australia saw the Labor Party suffer another state electoral defeat. Entrenched hostility among ordinary people toward the federal Labor government was a significant factor in the vote. Prime Minister Julia Gillard is now under greater pressure as Labor Party figures warn of a pending “massacre” in the national election due in September.

After years of wrangling the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place, but the water management fights are not over:

The gates of Paradise Dam at Bundaberg will be opened in the coming days to allow for repairs after January’s record flood. SunWater will dramatically lower the level of water in the dam and says about 23,000 megalitres per day will be released over a four to five day period.

Residents of a small town in southern New South Wales say they have been kept in the dark about pollution in their water supply. Around 140 properties at Delegate, on the NSW border with Victoria, draw their water from the Delegate River. But a report late last year from NSW Health found the water from the Delegate River is too polluted to drink.

And in China:

Delegates to China’s annual session of parliament have issued a protest against the rising level of pollution in the country. After a badly polluted day in Beijing, hundreds of delegates at the National People’s Congress took a stand on environmental policy.

When China’s environment ministry told attorney Dong Zhengwei he couldn’t have access to two-year old data about soil pollution because it was a “state secret”, it added to mounting public outrage over the worsening environment.

Canada’s opposition leader will visit Washington, D.C., this week to counter statements by Canadian officials in a recent lobbying blitz supporting the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. The trip by Tom Mulcair, of Canada’s New Democratic Party, comes amidst a series of United States trips by Canadian officials to meet with Obama administration personnel and lawmakers about the pipeline. According to Canada’s National Post, Mulcair’s message to the lawmakers and business executives with whom he plans to meet is that the Canadian government is “playing people for fools” by championing the nation’s environmental record.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair won’t advocate for — or against — the Keystone XL pipeline, the most contentious issue in Canada-U.S. relations, when he comes to Washington this week for talks with senior Obama administration officials.

The Harper gang is muzzling scientists, librarians, anyone who can think for themselves:

Federal librarians and archivists who set foot in classrooms, attend conferences or speak up at public meetings on their own time are engaging in “high risk” activities, according to the new code of conduct at Library and Archives Canada. Given the dangers, the code says the department’s staff must clear such “personal” activities with their managers in advance to ensure there are no conflicts or “other risks to LAC.” The code, which stresses federal employees’ “duty of loyalty” to the “duly elected government,” also spells out how offenders can be reported. “It includes both a muzzle and a snitch line,” says James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents more than 68,000 teachers, librarians, researchers and academics across the country. He and others say the code is evidence the Harper government is silencing and undermining its professional staff.

A big shakeup in the Liberal party leadership race this week as Garneau quits:

Marc Garneau is dropping out of the race to lead the federal Liberal Party and will support his MP colleague Justin Trudeau, saying a Trudeau win is certain. On Tuesday, Garneau supported Trudeau’s plea to the Liberal Party to extend the registration deadline for voters in the leadership race, and sources have told CBC News that the deadline will be moved to give more time for supporters who are registering by mail, rather than by email.

The oil industry, conservative groups and House GOP lawmakers will ramp up opposition to proposals that would strip industry tax breaks and impose taxes on industrial carbon emissions. The conservative House Republican Study Committee and a number of outside groups will continue a trend: publicly slamming carbon tax proposals that already lack political traction.

The Michigan Department of Community Health says it’s not dangerous to drink water from wells along the Kalamazoo River that were polluted by a 2010 oil spill. The department said Monday it analyzed samples from 150 wells in Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties after a ruptured pipeline sent more than 800,000 gallons of crude into the river.

President Obama will seek to establish a $2bn clean energy fund using fees from the oil and gas sector generated during the next ten years, according to White House officials. The plan will look to cut US dependence on petrol for vehicles and develop its domestic clean technology sector. According to the New York Times, the Energy Security Trust will be funded from the growth in licence fees from oil and gas firms looking to drill on public land and waters.

Egypt’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood has condemned a UN draft declaration on women’s rights, claiming the document violates Islamic Law. The party outlined ten reasons why women in Muslim countries should not have the proposed rights. The document, “End Violence Against Women,” is planned to be ratified on Friday by the UN Commission on the Status of Women and is now being negotiated as part of the 57th session.

Meanwhile among the ‘Sue the Bastards!’ contingent:

Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s bill for its Fukushima nuclear disaster may swell as more U.S. military personnel charge the utility lied about radiation levels they faced while assisting in relief efforts after Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. Twenty-six plaintiffs refiled a suit this week, with as many as 100 others in the process of joining the legal action, in demands for more than $2 billion in compensation, the Stars and Stripes newspaper reported, citing attorneys. An initial complaint was filed Dec. 21 by eight sailors.

If a mine has received a federal permit to expand its current operations, can the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revoke the permit retroactively to protect the nation’s water? That was the issue at stake in a Washington, D.C., courtroom hearing held Thursday over Arch Coal’s 15-year battle to expand its mining operations in West Virginia. The case involves the EPA’s authority under the Clean Water Act and is closely watched by energy companies and other industries worried that EPA could also pull their environmental permits after the fact. Final answers aren’t expected anytime soon in a case that could go to the Supreme Court.

BP has been a target since the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill – Earlier this month, a judge sided against BP in ongoing settlement talks – BP says some payments “will constitute irreparable harm” to the company

A worker who survived the deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon testified Wednesday that a flurry of activity on the drilling rig hindered his ability to monitor BP’s well for signs of trouble before the April 2010 blowout. Joseph Keith, the second rig worker to testify in person at a federal trial over the disaster, said he never saw any indications that a blowout was brewing before drilling mud started raining down on the rig floor just before the blast. The blowout triggered an explosion that killed 11 men and led to the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

BP is warning investors that the price tag will be “significantly higher” than it initially estimated for its multibillion-dollar settlement with businesses and residents who claim the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cost them money.

What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

Three years ago, Germany’s largest utility spent 400 million euros ($523 million) building a natural gas-fired power station. Later this month, the company may close the plant because it’s losing so much money. EON SE’s Irsching-5 in Bavaria last year operated less than 25 percent of the time as slumping power prices made burning natural gas unprofitable by record margins. As Europe’s weak economy holds back electricity demand, cheaper coal, requirements to buy renewable energy and the collapsing cost of carbon permits are undercutting gas-fired plants.

Drivers who find that the fuel efficiency in their new car doesn’t match up to the claims made by the manufacturer, now know it is not their driving to blame. A new report reveals that carmakers routinely manipulate official UN-backed miles/gallons tests, with a series of tricks including stripping the car down to weigh as little as possible, overinflating the tyres and testing in the thin air at high-altitude tracks.

Low Key Plug

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.

A Simple Plea

Webmasters, web coders and content providers have mercy on your low bandwidth brethren. Because I am on dial-up, I am a text surfer — no images, no javascript and no flash. When you post a graphic, will you please use the alt text field … and when you embed a youtube/vimeo/flash video, please add some minimal description. Thank you.

<regards>

-het

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.